"Morphy afterwards said this [14...Kh8] lost him the game, and that 14...B-B3 [14...Bf6] was correct. Maroczy prefers 14...Kt xKt; 15 P x Kt, R-B1. [14...Nxc3, 15. bxc3 Rc8]"

First, <CivilChess> <This was a world championship match game!>

I don't think this could be considered a world champion match game.

Second,<kevin86> <Maybe it was out of sportsmanship that Morphy resigned-as he often gave more odds than necessary and often lost those games.>

Morphy generally won his odds games

...

This was the first match game vs. Harrwitz. Morphy lost the first two games and except for a single draw, attributed to a slip, Morphy won all the rest. Edge believed that Morphy lost the first two games because he had just arrived in Paris and was staying out partying, as it were, until the wee hours of the morning. After the second game, Morphy started going to bed by midnight... and started his win streak.

I have my own idea about this based on a conversation Morphy had with Edge after the second game. Edge was nervous because he had convinced a lot of people to bet on Morphy and then Morphy lost the first two games, but Morphy told Edge, "How astonished all these men are going to be. Harrwitz will not win another game."

It seems an odd thing to say when so far all you've demonstrated was that he could beat you.

Unless...

-Casual game

-1st match game

the pulse incident

-2nd match game

Odd Occurences:

1. Out of town when Morphy arrives, although aware that he was due. Could be innocent, but a little at variance with the description of a man who lives for chess, and specifically chess at the Cafe de la Regence.

2. At first meeting, Harrwitz acts disinterested when Morphy challenges him to a match, which seems very odd since Edge has described the scene at the Cafe as abuzz in expectation of Morphy's arrival to challenge him. http://batgirl.atspace.com/regence....

3. Then a moment later, when Morphy shows his letdown in an aside to Edge, Harrwitz changes mood and challenges Morphy to an offhand game in front of the crowd.

4. Harrwitz is first to offer a novelty, the highly complex (if ultimately dubious) 9 Bb5+, and Morphy reacts by offering an unsound gambit, or he just overlooks the loss of a pawn.

5. After that game, Harrwitz changes mood again, and agrees to a match, but without umpires or seconds. Harrwitz may have felt he had established the initiative between them as men, as he knows Morphy wants the match so badly he cannot refuse.

7. Harrwitz for all his tricks, played very good technique in the middle part of this game. 28 Rc5 shows good positional understanding.

8 Both players played quickly, taking only 3 1/2 hours for the whole game. Morphy did not stall or fret when he obtained a lost position, as most players of the day would have done. On the other hand, he missed drawing chances with 42...h5 when 42...Ra5 would have drawn according to GM Knaak.

9. On conclusion of the game, Harrwitz
did an unusual thing.

< On conclusion of the game, Harrwitz did an unusual thing.>

I'm not sure if that was an unusual thing for Harrwitz. It seems to me to have been pretty much in character.

But the purpose of this posting is to mention one factor most people either ignore or just don't think about.

Harrwitz was the house player at the Regence. I don't know his financial arrangement with the management, but it would seem that he received a nominal salary and supplemented his income teaching chess and playing for stakes. Edge mentioned that Harrwitz hedged his bets by not giving as great of odds as was warranted. So, unlike amateurs who play mostly for the gaming aspect, Harrwitz made a living at chess and the money, to him, was an important factor.

Morphy, on the other hand, didn't need money, so, while it might have been noble, it was also easy for him to say that he wanted to play for reputation or honor.

I think 295 pounds was a substantial sum. I don't know if Harrwitz backed himself or had backers, but either way, losing would sting him more than it would Morphy. So, it's understandable that Harrwitz tried, and succeeded, to gain as much advantage as possible in the pre-match negotiations. It's also understandable that he didn't want to play Morphy until he tested himself against him.

I think Harrwitz's showman-like behavior was, partially at least, another way for him to achieve an advantage by rattling his opponent. And it seems Harrwitz wasn't shy about gaining any sort of advantage (something that Edge felt made him unpopular)- in contrast to Morphy who didn't seem to want anyone to think he might need any advantages of than his skill and talent.

Anyway, I think being aware of Harrwitz's position, that maybe he literally had his house on the line, might help us understand some of his behavior.

Your descriptions of him are my own impressions. I read somewhere he had a deformity, but I have never been able to locate the source again. Hooper & Whyld wrote he was "physically unattractive, 'all heads and brains', on a tiny body"

Harrwitz' fate of being forgotten for his play and remembered for his faults may have haunted Lasker when he wrote about him in 1932 "The modern generation fails to do justice to him. He was a great player."

When Max Lange published his book on Morphy in German, for a German audience, it was an instant success. The German chess players wanted to know more about this American phenomenon. Immediately, Faulkbeer started his translation (with additional notes and corrections) into English. The next year, when it was released in America, it was a critical and marketing failure. The reason was that the German chessplayers saw Morphy differently than the Americans did. Both populations recognized his tremendous talent, but the Germans weren't immersed in the hero-worship aspect. In fact, Lange's book was a bit jingoistic and pro-German. In his book Lange holds Morphy in deference but also in perspective and makes many valid points. The Americans, on the other hand, seemed to hold the opinion that anything other than total praise was unacceptable ... which is an equally jingoistic attitude. Of course, as usual, the truth lies somewhere in between.

But in talking of Harrwitz, it's easy to just dismiss him as an arrogant, two-bit player whom Morphy put in his place. But I feel that answers that are too easy are usually wrong. Harrwitz was a complex individual and a very talent and hard-working chess player whose career and reputation was shattered in the fall of 1858. And, when I think about how Morphy, with utter certaintly and accuracy (after losing his only 3 games againt Harrwitz), predicted that Harrwitz would never win another game, I have to wonder about Morhpy's role in this drama.

Morphy's behavior at the beginning of this match is also strange. I think he approached the match with close to near certainty that he would win, despite having little knowledge of Harrwitz.

He approached Harrwitz,"departing (as in the case of Staunton) from his usual custom, asked him to have a game." Sergeant varies the account from Edge's version that Morphy asked him for a match, but either way, Morphy showed either confidence or impatience by changing his routine.

Morphy according to Edge played the offhand game in an "excited" state, which lends credence to the theory he threw that game, or at least handicapped himself several pawns before playing at full force.

Then even more oddly, if Edge is to be believed, he stayed up late partying the nights before the first two games. What is this all about?

In any case, in Game 1 shown on this page he was clearly outplayed, and his errors were not gross or unbelievable, just errors of timing and planning. He does not mention any plan to exchange on c3 and pressuring it at move 14 which masters of the 20th century would have looked at first (14...Nxc3 15 bxc3 Rc8 Maroczy) or even better 14...Rc8 immediately (Knaak)

He does seem to have calmed down. Thanks to Harrwitz(!) we know his pulse was very slow. And he made a typical Morphy decision after a loss. Despite having found the error immediately 14...Kh8? and an improvement 14...Bf6, he discarded this opening the rest of the match.

So far so good for Morphy. He did not take losses to heart if he knew the reason. But the pulse taking incident was so rude, Morphy likely drew real offence and began to wonder what type of person he was up against. Harrwitz could not know that Morphy was very sensitive to how he carried himself, as he seems to have measured his life achievements against that of his father who had just died. This was a public humiliation.

Harrwitz got his goat, and while it paid off in a victory in the next game, Morphy the rest of the match played the best chess of his life.

My total impression of the match is Morphy started it over-confident, and even distracted. Harrwitz tricked him with openings, then angered him, but the anger prodded Morphy to raising his game up to a level Harrwitz could not hope to match.

<Then even more oddly, if Edge is to be believed, he stayed up late partying the nights before the first two games. What is this all about?>

I guess it depends on how one views Morphy. I'm of the opinion that chess didn't consume him, that he didn't spend much of his free time studying and analyzing or even thinking about the game. His abilities were about as natural as they could be. He hinted at this when asked if studied books and he replied that he looked at some instructional material, but the things they were trying to teach were obvious to him at a glance. So, in many ways, to Morphy chess wasn't an end but a means. His sudden popularity opened the doors of many famous, interesting and intelligent people. I think Morphy liked this mingling more than he did chess. But what took some time to sink in was the idea that fame is often a double-edged sword. If he were allowed into this special circle by virtue of his chess skill, then who are these people really interested in, Morphy the chess champion or Morphy the man? These same parties and private gathering that so enamoured him early in his chess career later became an element of his discontent.

Thanks for th info. I did some cursory looking-around and came up with this:

according to:
http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~alan...

on the value of a pound in 1861

in 1861 - teachers earned about 93 pounds/year, surgeon, 343; Lawyer, 1600; policeman, 54; general laborer, 44; clergyman, 272; printer, 74; clerk, 248; farm worker, 36.

Just bums to play with,
I'm not myself,
No sign of Harrwitz
And I'm worried 'bout my health,
Ain't misbehavin'
I'll take a night out on the town.

Mom, you must believe me
I don't stay out late,
Just a walk about Paris
And I'm home about eight...
Ain't misbehavin'
I just need a little fun.

My head is spinnin'
The thread is gone,
I thought I was winnin'
Then I dropped another pawn
Ain't misbehavin'
And it won't happen again!